Another update so soon, after the last one took three years? This is basically a maintenance update, fixing a few misplaced ROM files, removing "fake" hacks that did not actually appear on any plug-and-play console, and adding a few that had been previously omitted.

You might get excited about a few new advanced hacks (mostly) by Inventor, however, that unlike Dada and Bitha are quite rare to find.


Also notable are three light gun game hacks from Waixing.


Also added are one missing extract each from DGUN-2500 (Tennis from Nanjing) and the Intellivision X2 (Buzz Bombers).


Credits this time go to blootooth and forgotusername for suggestions and sleuthing through the archive to spot errors and omissions. Three pairs of eyes are better than one, after all.

Download the new archive here. No new NintendulatorNRS build this time. As usual, refer to the WHATSNEW.TXT file for a complete list of changes since the last release, and LIST.TXT to search for any particular title in the archive. Happy New Year!

Three years after the last release, enough new material has accumulated to warrant a new version of Project Plug-and-Play.

Last time, we introduced half of the games of the Intellivision X2 console, containing NES ports of Intellivision games that were not made by Nice Code Software. Thanks to a redump of the console's ROM, the other half of the games can now be played as well. So enjoy, if you will, two-player editions of Beach Volleyball, Baseball, Football, Frog Bog and Maze Shoot.



The GameZone II plug-and-play console has since been dumped as well, featuring (among other things) entirely original (meaning, different from Jungletac's) ports of the arcade games Asteroids, Frogger, Missile Command, Moon Cresta and Scramble. These ports are not very good; but if you wanted good games, you would not be here.



TimeTop's VT03-based consoles have been dumped for a long time; but so far, nobody has been able to extract their individual games. The reason is that they do not use the regular OneBus method of selecting individual games via the VTxx' outer bank registers; instead, they use a highly customized means of asset management. Our extracts are not true extracts, either, because they include the entire multicart that has only been modified to boot directly into the individual games. But these will have to do until TimeTop's asset management has been fully understood and a true extractor, which will have to be a fully-fledged re-packager, can be written. As usual, TimeTop's games are extremely derivative, replicating game ideas, music and graphics from many other games. Stone Age is effectively a port of a Flintstones game on the Mega Drive/Genesis and uses the music from Waixing's Zelda III NES port at its title screen.



Apart from a few more Cube Tech VT369 games and the usual assortment of replacements of copyright-less ROMs, two original game versions of note deserve mention. First is Pikachu 5, the original Pokémon-themed version of dreamGEAR favorite Wonder Rabbit/Gardman/Diveman, which happened to be included on the NX-85 game console. Second, the complete version of Nice Code's Olympic, extracts of which have graced many a plug-and-play console in various hacks, and which previously was thought to be a series of elaborate hacks from Inventor of Konami's Track & Field.




Credits go to krzysiobal for dumping the Intellivision X2, forgotusername for identifying and extracting unused Cube Tech games and copyright-bearing game versions, and MAME's dumpers for assorted PnP console ROM images.

Download the new archive here, and be sure to grab a recent build of NintendulatorNRS from the left-hand panel of this blog while you're at it. Refer to the WHATSNEW.TXT file for a complete list of changes since the last release, and LIST.TXT to search for any particular title in the archive. Merry Christmas!

It's been a long time since we last amused you with a classic rain dance of rare ROM dumps. Rare Extraterrestial Technology just does not lie on the sidewalk however, so it took us blood, sweat, and tears, or at least time, money and effort, to bring you today's cavalcade of far-Eastern 8-bit goodness.

地球戦士: 快乐比奇 (Dìqiú Zhànshì: Kuàilè Bǐqí) – Cartridge cover: [1], [2] (sunfaded)

Happy Biqi is probably the least-known Famicom backport of Earthworm Jim, but certainly not the least enjoyable. Developed in 1996 by Waixing Technology as one of their earliest games, you have seen a re-release dump of this game before as well, having both an updated title screen and a boring static Waixing logo. We now present the original print with the walking marsman mascot. Also pay attention to its unique design on the game cover! This original version had made the rounds on-line for some time, but was unusable due a lack of essential CHR data. Our copy was defective as well, but was miraculously restored by Krzysiobal from its corrosion-prone circuit board.

新包青天 II (武鬥篇) - Super Justice King (Xīn Bāoqīngtiān II - Wǔdòu Piān) – Cartridge cover

The name "Impartial Judge" will sound familiar to all bootleg game aficionados for being included among Waixing's pack of downloadable NES games from Subor's (now-defunct) iStudy labyrinth of a website. Its original version, with a Chinese title screen, goes back to 1996 however, and may have been inspired by Kasheng's more well-known game about Justice Pao (包青天). Both games are clearly based on a popular mid-1990s Taiwanese historical drama series and even include Famicom arrangements of the series' theme song. While Kasheng's game is an original platformer, Waixing chose to re-use the engine from "Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden 2" and hack that title into a Justice-Pao-themed one-on-one fighting game. The cartridge is surprisingly difficult to find, in part because its cover resembles re-releases of Kasheng's game (original release, Realtec's B-K6, Kasheng reprint NT-679, Thai release).

三國志꞉ 英杰傳 - Hero Legend (Sānguózhì꞉ Yīngjiézhuán)

A later version of Waixing's Chinese translation of Capcom's first "Destiny of an Emperor" RPG.

勇者斗恶龙 - Dragon Quest IV (Yongzhe Dòu Èlóng)

Our re-dump of Waixing's Chinese translation of the Enix' first Dragon Quest game differs from the existing dump in exactly one byte, so we of course tripped over ourselves to bring it to you.

战国风会 (Zhànguó Fēnghuì)

Apirated edition of Waixing's Chinese translation of Square's Hanjuku Hero, likely from 振华 (Zhènhuá). It amusingly shows a graphic from the title screen of the completely unrelated game Castle of Dragon/Dragon Unit.

金庸群侠传 (Jīnyōng Qúnxiázhuán)

It's just the Fuzhou Coolboy re-release of Waixing's 英烈群侠传 (Yīngliè Qúnxiázhuán) original RPG.

汤姆寻宝记 (Tāngmǔ Xúnbǎojì)

Fuzhou Coolboy release of Waixing's Chinese translation of Square's Tom Sawyer RPG.

絶代英雄 (Juédài Yīngxióng)

超级 大战略 (Chāojí Dàzhànlüè)

Earlier versions than previously available of Waixing's Chinese translation of Bandai's SD Gachapon Senshi 3 strategy game (here without the "Unrivalled Hero" tagline), and of Bothtec's Daisenryaku.

轩转剑四: 御猫傳奇 (Xuānzhuǎn Jiànsì: Yùmāo Chuánqí)

Henggedianzi's pirate edition of Waixing's original game 三侠五义: 御猫傳奇 (Sānxiá Wǔyì: Yùmāo Chuánqí).

777 幸運輪盤 (777 Xìngyùn Lúnpán, SA-004)

You know this game as 777 Lucky Bingo with an English title screen. But here, we present the original Chinese-titled version of this simple slots game, developed around the time Joy Van was being merged into Sachen. While many of their employees left to form Idea-Tek, Hummer Cheng stayed on a little longer to program and compose music for a few more games, like this one.

NTDEC 4-in-1 – Cartridge covers: Taiwan, Int v1, Int v2
NTDEC 31-in-1

HQ 高品質合卡 15-in-1

NTDEC's early multicarts have a special place in our heart, and deserve to be presented separately from the others.

(SPC007) 6-in-1

Another rare member of Suger Softec's line of multicarts that include original unhacked versions of their acclaimed NES backports.

(Techline XB-F860) 9-in-1

Among the many multicarts, this one stands out for including Inventor hacks of some larger NES titles, featuring some highly disturbing artwork in some of the games, such as Ares.

Educational Computer 16-in-1
Educational Computer 2000 48-in-1 (Spanish)
Family FRK_I
GameStar Smart Genius Education Computer 100 Function


Who does not love Famiclone educational computer cartridges? We certainly do. "GameStar Smart Genius Education Computer 100 Function" has an embedded 64-in-1 multicart (complete with "farting" menu music) that we present as a separate multicart ROM as well.

(Keybyte) 13-in-1
(Keybyte) 1989 鑽石組合 30合1+實戰麻將 超級卡匣
(Keybyte) 20-in-1
(CS-280) Console TV Cartridge - Super 7-in-1
超強合卡 191 黄金組合
(山鼎) 8-in-1

The best of the rest: multicarts that are distinct from the "rest of the pack" for having nice-looking menu screens. The last one gives strong Punch Sprite vibes.

(108-01) 9999-in-1
(1682) 強捧 16-in-1
(EW-602) 1996 Super HiK Gold Card 6-in-1
(FK-7075) Super 4-in-1
(K202) Super 2-in-1
(KD-105C PCB) 19-in-1
(KD-105C PCB) 19-in-1 [fix Magic Jewelry music]
(PW-08) 2-in-1 Superstar Edition
(Realtec JY-040) 法寶 82-in-1
(Techline JY-8925) Super 3-in-1
(Techline XB-A010207) 4-in-1
(VT-2023A) Super 1998
(YH-458) 1998 New 4-in-1
(卡聖 VQ-168) 天龍八強
(山鼎) 31-in-1
1992 Super 24-in-1 II Game
72-in-1
92 劃面選關 310-in-1 王牌老四強
92 高K超強金卡 288-in-1 畫面選關
9金龙
Panda Adventure 8-in-1
PikáGame - to have a Good time for family! 76-in-1
Street Fighter III 40-in-1 - Games Screen Selectable
Super 32 TV Game Cartridge
Super 34 TV Game Cartridge
Super 66 TV Game Cartridge

The rest of the rest: multicarts with boring text-only menu screens. We won't waste space by showing them all.

...Is this what it is like to be a UFO researcher?

The fruits of our efforts may be downloaded here. Additionally, you must grab the latest release of NintendulatorNRS (binary and source), available in the main sidebar.

All due credits to Dušan, Krzysiobal, ggdjr and NewRisingSun.